This game, in Gloucestershire and Warkwickshire is called "Little Pigs ;" and one player hides some small thing, and callsLittle pigs come to supper,

Hot boil'd bean and ready butter.

Should they

The other players then commence to search. approach near the hidden article, the first player calls out "warm"; if nearer, "hot"; if very close, "burning"; till the thing is found, the finder having the privilege to hide the thing in the next game. "Cold," "colder," and "freezing," are the words used when the players seek in the wrong direction.

See also AP. 525, for a similar game in Shropshire.

Lady Queen Anne.

2. One child is chosen to remain in the room, while the others go outside and consult together until it is decided which one of their number shall hold the ball. They then troop in, with their hands either hidden under the skirts of their dresses, or clasped in such a way that Lady Queen Anne cannot tell which has it by looking at them; all repeating

"Here we come to Lady Queen Anne,

With a pair of white gloves to cover our hand

As white as the lily, as fair as the rose,

But not so fair as you may suppose."

Lady Queen Anne replies

"Turn, ladies, turn!"

The players whirl round, and say—

"The more we turn the more we may.

Queen Anne was born on Midsummer Day."

Lady Queen Anne then says—

"The king sent me three letters,

I never read them all,

Should she have guessed correctly, all the party curtsey, and

say

"The ball is yours and not ours,

You must go to the garden and gather the flowers!"

And the child who had the ball takes the queen's seat, whilst the queen retires with the others; but should she have made a mistake, the same party go out again, saying, as they curtsey"The ball's ours and not yours,

We must," etc.-AR. v. 53.

Another version of the rhyme is

The Lady Queen Anne she sat in a tan (? sedan),

As fair as a lily, as white as a swan,

The Queen of Morocco she sent you a letter (sic)
So please to read one.

The reply runs—

I won't read one except them all,

So please, etc.-AQ. v. 87.

Mr. Halliwell, in his Popular Rhymes and Village Tales, 1849,

has

Queen Anne, Queen Anne who sits on her throne,
As fair as a lily, as white as a swan;

The king sends you three letters,
And begs you'll read one.

Queen Anne replies

I cannot read one, unless I read all,
So pray, etc.

The concluding lines there given are—

Or

The ball is mine, and none of thine,

So you, proud Queen, may sit on your throne,
While we, your messengers, go and come.

The ball, etc.

You are the fair lady to sit on :

And we're the black gipsies to go and come.

pp. 133, 134.

Mr. Halliwell, in his Nursery Rhymes of England, Percy Society, vol. iv., 1842, has another version, but the plot is obscured by the use of a wrong pronoun, or the ambiguous employment of "so."

Queen Anne, Queen Anne, you sit in the sun,

As fair as a lily, as white as a wand.

I send you three letters and pray

read one,

You must read one, if you can't read all,

So pray [Miss or Master] throw up the ball.-p. 113.

The ensuing lines from the same work, probably belong to a game of this character

Here we come a-piping,

First in spring and then in May.
The Queen she sits upon the sand,
Fair as a lily, white as a wand;
King John has sent you letters three,
And begs you'll read them unto me.

The concluding lines form the reply

We can't read one without them all,

So pray, Miss Bridget, deliver the ball.-p. 108.

Vesey, Vesey Vum.

One child is blindfolded, the others hide something and shout"Vesey, vesey vum

Buck-a-boo has come,

Find if you can and take it home,

Vesey, vesey vum.”

A search is then made for the hidden object, when found the finder in his turn is blindfolded. AR. v. 53.

The above is evidently incorrectly detailed.

LEAP CANDLE.

"The young girls in and about Oxford have a sport called Leapcandle, for which they set a candle in the middle of a room in a candlestick, and then draw up their coates into the form of breeches, and dance over the candle back and forth, with these words'The Taylor of Bisiter, he has but one eye,

He cannot cut a pair of green Galagaskins if he were to die.""

This sport in other parts is called Dancing the Candlerush. Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, (1686–87) ed. and annotated by James Britten, 1881, Folklore Society Pub., p. 45.

In the 5th ed. of Halliwell's Nursery Rhymes, duo., 1853, is a rhyme which may possibly allude to some such game

Jack be nimble, and Jack be quick :

And Jack jump over the candlestick.—p. 166.

In Warwickshire a similar game is called "Cock and breeches."

TIT-TAT-TOE!

The first game taught to children when they can use a slate pencil, the words

"Tit-tat-toe,
My first go,"

being said by the one who first makes three crosses or three noughts in a row. Berkshire. AD. 164.

In Warwickshire, Staffordshire, etc., the game is called Ticktack-toe, and the rhyme is "Tick-tack-toe, I've caught you." A square is divided into nine smaller squares, the first player makes a cross, the second a nought, and so on, to win the game as mentioned above.

ARM.

NURSERY GAMES.

One child extends his arm, and the other, in illustration of the narrative, strikes him gently with the side of his hand at the shoulder and wrist; and then at the word "middle," with considerable force on the flexor muscles at the elbow-joint

FACE.

"My father was a Frenchman,

He bought for me a fiddle,

He cut me here, he cut me here,

He cut me right in the middle."-AY. 180.

"Boo Peeper, Nose dreeper, Chin chopper, White lopper, Red rag, And little gap."

These lines are said to a very young child, touching successively for each line the eye, nose, chin, tongue, and mouth. AV. 105, 106. Sometimes the following version is used—

Brow bunky, eye winky, Chin choppy, nose noppy,
Cheek cherry, mouth merry.

The most pleasing amusement of this kind is the game of "face tapping," the nurse tapping each feature as she sings these linesHere sits the Lord Mayor (forehead),

Here sits his two men (eyes);

Here sits the cock (right cheek),

Here sits the hen (left do.);

Here sit the little chickens (tip of nose),

Here they run in (mouth);

Chin chopper, chin chopper, chinchopper chin (chucking the

Eye winker, Tom Tinker, Nose dropper,
Mouth eater, Chin chopper.-AY. 193.

In Warwickshire and Gloucestershire they say—
Knock at the door (tapping forehead),
Peep in (touching the eyelids),
Lift up the latch (tilting the nose),

And walk in (putting finger in mouth).

An extended version from Shropshire is

Knock at the door,

Ring at the bell (pulling ear),

Peep thro' the keyhole (enclosing eye with finger and thumb), Lift up the latch,

Wipe your shoes (stroking upper lip),

Walk in.

Chin, chin, chin, chocker.-AP. 528.

A similar version is current in Suffolk, but "window" replaces "keyhole," and "wipe your shoes" is not included.

"My mother and your mother went over the way,

Said my mother to your mother it's chop-a-nose day." Repeated by the nurse when sliding the hand down the child's face. AY. 195. Another version

Margery Mutton pie and Johnny Bopeep,
They met together in Gracechurch street,
In and out, in and out, and over the way,

Oh! says Johnny, 'tis chop-nose day.—AY. 163.